First comes the tease, with about .10 of an inch of rain predicted Wednesday night. Don't get too excited, though, because Thursday will be dry. But on Friday afternoon, if National Weather Service projections hold, comes the possibility of real rain in Southern California. As much as one to two inches of rain is expected on the coast and in the valleys, and double that in the mountains before it ends with showers on Saturday. This Pacific storm will hit most of the state and bring much-needed snow to the Sierra, said Joe Firard, a meteorologist with the weather service.

The slew of storms that has pummeled the nation's Midwest and East Coast this winter has resulted in some horrible numbers: 77,000 canceled flights carrying nearly 6 million passengers so far this year. An additional 43 million people were on delayed flights. At Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, about 1,000 passengers slept in the terminals Thursday night because of 675 canceled flights in and out of the airport. The airport offered cots, blankets and baby items to delayed travelers.

WASHINGTON - President Obama's healthcare law will reduce the ranks of the uninsured by roughly 13 million this year and 25 million once the law is fully phased in, but will also result in the equivalent of 2-million people reducing their work hours because of the availability of insurance subsidies, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. The latest projections from the nonpartisan budget analysts immediately produced talking points for both sides in the deeply polarized debate over the Affordable Care Act. Republicans seized on the projected reduction in work hours, roughly a 1% to 2% decline, to boost their claim that Obamacare will harm the economy.

Attention electric vehicles: 2014 will be good to you. That's the prediction from IHS Automotive, which said Tuesday it expects global production of EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) to rise 67% this year. That compares with just a 3.6% increase in the production of all vehicles globally. Several key factors account for the expected increase in electric vehicles. “European emissions standards are tightening in the second half of this year,” Ben Scott, an analyst for IHS Automotive, said in a statement.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Friday that U.S. sales figures for its fiscal fourth quarter would probably come in below earlier forecasts when they're announced Feb. 20 due to the effects of volatile weather and cuts to the federal food stamp program. The world's largest retailer said in November that for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, it expected sales at American Wal-Mart stores open at least a year to be relatively flat. So-called same-store sales at its warehouse chain Sam's Club were projected to be anywhere from flat to up 2%. But on Friday the company said that sales would likely miss the mark, pushed down from stronger-than-expected pressure from a government reduction in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that went into effect Nov. 1. Winter storms also caused store closings during the period, according to Wal-Mart, which has more than 11,000 units in its system.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Wes Welker isn't too worried about Sunday's forecast. The Denver receiver got used to playing in all types of brutal conditions during his years with the New England Patriots. He has played in his share of bitter-cold games, of course, but also one in Buffalo in which the wind was clocked at 70 mph. “They had to take a rope and pull the field goal post back upright so that we could kick extra points and field goals and different things like that,” Welker said.

January 27, 2014 | By Jason Wells, This post has been corrected. See the note below for details.

After a slight warming trend this week, a very parched Los Angeles could see a rare sight: rain. Parts of the Southland saw a few sprinkles over the weekend, but a stronger weather system is expected to produce a 20% chance of rain on Thursday and into Friday, according to the National Weather Service. However, anyone hoping for significant relief from the area's drought conditions will be disappointed. Forecasters don't expect more than a quarter of an inch of rain from the system -- hardly enough to raise abysmal rainfall totals across the L.A. basin.

You never forget your first. That is why former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Andy Russell can recall, in vivid detail, much of Super Bowl IX in 1975, the first of his two NFL championship games. And his starkest memories center on the Poly-Turf surface at New Orleans' Tulane Stadium, which overnight rains and cold weather had turned into a skating rink. "We got out there and we couldn't stand up. It was ridiculous," Russell remembers. "We were slipping and sliding and we thought, 'You can't play like this.

WASHINGTON - After a long and lumpy recovery, the world economy may finally be at a turning point with global growth expected to accelerate this year behind the rising strength of the U.S. and other major developed countries. But world finance leaders are warning of lingering effects of the last recession and, in particular, citing some growing threats - capital flight in developing countries and deflation in rich nations. "With inflation running below many central banks' targets, we see rising risks of deflation, which could prove disastrous for the recovery," Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said Wednesday in a Washington meeting.

The fire danger in many parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties is "about as high as it can be," a meteorologist warned Tuesday. Brush and other natural fuels are dry from a year without much precipitation, Santa Ana winds are blowing strong and humidity levels are often in the single digits, said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. A red-flag warning signaling high fire danger is in effect until at least 6 p.m. Wednesday. Strong winds early Tuesday felled a large tree that hit the administration building of Mt. Vernon Elementary School in San Bernardino.